Card stripping device



April 1959 F. G. JAMES 2,880,469

CARD STRIPPING DEVICE Filed Dec. 17, 1955 MAIN CYLINDER DOFFER N xfl lCYLINDER United States Pate CARD STRIPPING DEVICE Flem G. James,Pineville, N.C. Application December 17, 1953, Serial No. 398,680 2Claims. (Cl. 19-109) This invenion relates to an improvedvacuum-operated card stripper.

In the art of stripping matted fibers from card clothing, it has beenrecognized that one simple and economical card stripper includes avacuum nozzle and means for traversing it axially along the face of arotating card cylinder to be stripped and in most instances a singlevacuum means has been connected with two simultaneously-traversednozzles, one for the main cylinder and one for the dolfer cylinder. Adisadvantage of these prior art constructions has been their failure topick up dirty stripping knocked off the dofier cylinder by the doffercomb.

In prior art devices, both the dolfer cylinder nozzle and the maincylinder nozzle usually have been positioned at the top of the card.Thus with prior art vacuum stripping, the vacuum nozzle for the maincylinder loosens and brings to the surface a substantial amount of verydirty fibrous waste material which it does not completely dislodge onfirst contact. The doifer roll removes this waste as it would removecarded fibers in normal operation and the doffer comb, in turn, removesthe same dirty material before it reaches the doffer cylinder strippingnozzle with the result that this dirty waste material drops to the floorrather than being taken to a waste house along with the rest of thevacuum strippings.

In machines of this type, before the stripping operation begins,tailings of cotton come through the machine after the input of cotton iscut off. The dofler comb breaks such tailings off the dofier cylinderand these clean white tailings drop to the floor. Further, it issometimes the practice when starting the carding operation after thecard stripping operation to permit the clean white cotton to comethrough for two or three minutes until it obtains the proper weightbefore being sent through the trumpets. This white waste is alsopermitted to drop to the floor.

Normally this white waste is erator and put back into the process whereit again goes into the carding machine. Unfortunately, the waste cottonhaving fallen to the floor picks up the dirty waste material which hasbeen dropped to the floor by the doffer comb. This is the dirtiestcotton of all the strippings. Its presence with the clean cotton tendsto decrease the quality of the production from the machine. This haslowered the quality of the sliver produced with a resultant lowerquality through all processing stages, even to the fabric.

One object of this invention is the provision of means for curing theabove defects of prior art vacuum stripping devices. Another object ofthis invention is the provision of means for improving the quality ofcard sliver. Other objects of the invention will be more readilyapparent from the detailed description of the invention and the attacheddrawings.

In general, the objects of this invention are accomplished bymodification of prior art vacuum strippers picked up by the opice of thetype described to provide a suction nozzle which traverses the face ofthe doffer cylinder along the line where it is engaged by the dofiercomb.

It has been found that such suction nozzle will re-' move the dirtywaste which would otherwise go back into the fibrous material beingprocessed.

In a preferred card stripper construction, a single source of vacuum isconnected with a first suction nozzle adapted to traverse axially alongthe face of the upper portion of the main card cylinder, a secondsuction nozzle adapted to traverse axially along the face of the upperportion of the dotfer cylinder, and a third auxiliary suction nozzleadapted to traverse axially along the face of the dotfer cylinder atabout the line of engagement. between the dofier cylinder and the doffercomb. In that construction, a single means is provided forsimultaneously traversing all three nozzles.

The stripping nozzles may be traversed manually along a supporting rodor mechanically, as by a driven screw mounted in or adjacent thesupporting rod. In either event, all nozzles should be moved together orin synchronism, as the primary purpose of the third nozzle is to pick upmaterial loosened on the surfaceof the main cylinder and transferred tothe dotfer cylinder.

In practice, a satisfactory auxiliary'nozzle is the open end terminationof a relatively rigid tube extending from where a vacuum-source tube ismounted on a supporting rod downwardly to a position adjacent the dotfercomb and the face of the dofier roll. The tube must be relatively rigidto assure that it may be maintained in a position of rather close anduniform clearance, with respect to the doifer roll and the dotfer comb.

It is important that the cross sectional dimensions of the conduitsconnecting the vacuum source and the three nozzles be so regulated thatthe proper amount of suction is applied at each point. There must be amore careful proportioning of velocity of air from the auxiliary nozzlethan at either of the other nozzles, because the Waste material knockedoff the dolfer cylinder by the dofier comb must pass around the dofiercomb before it enters the auxiliary nozzle. The comb supports make itimposisble to lower the traversing nozzle to the level of the bottom ofthe comb. Manual means for regulating the air flow can be added, ifdesired, in the form of valves, but inasmuch as a constant ratio of airflow will be used throughout the life of the stripper, it has been foundpreferable to regulate the air flow by regulating the size of theconduits leading to the respective nozzles. The type of conduit and theconnections between the conduits form no part of this invention and canbe varied by those skilled in the art.

While this invention is described primarily with respect to a system inwhich there are two primary nozzles, one for each cylinder and anauxiliary nozzle adapted to be positioned adjacent the dotfer comb, itwill be understood that it is within the scope of this invention toprovide a stripping assembly utilizing only two nozzles, one of which isthe ordinary stripping nozzle for the main cylinder and the othercombines the functions of the main doffer cylinder nozzle and theauxiliary nozzle. In this alternative construction, the dofier cylindernozzle has a close clearance from the face of the dotfer cylinder abovethe doffer comb as well as a close clearance above and behind the dofiercomb.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the attacheddrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a card equipped with thestripping assembly of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view showing the form of theinvention shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of an alternativemodification of the invention which utilizes only two nozzles.

Figs. 4,5, 6, and 7 illustrate alternative types of nozzles which may beused to regulate the relative air flow betwecnthe various nozzles shownin the other figures.

In that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a card strippingassembly indicated generally at 10 is mounted for reciprocation on a rod12, which is supported on a card by means not shown, so that it isparallel to the axis of the cylinders and just above the doffercylinder. The stripping assembly is made up of a collar 1 a main vacuumconduit 16 and three secondary vacuum conduits 18, 19 and 20, providedwith nozzles 28, 29, and 30, respectively. The only parts of-the cardillustrated are the conventional main cylinder 40, the dofier .cylinder42 and the doffer comb 44, all of which are supported and operated byconventional means not shown. The stripping .assembly is made up ofmetallic parts having sutficient rigidity to prevent them from movingout oflpredetermined clearance.

In operation, the stripping assembly remains idle at one side of thecard during the normal card operation. After several hours use, the cardmust be stopped, cleaned of operating fibrous material and stripped toremove dirt and waste which accumulated in the card clothing. Instripping, the stripping assembly is moved to a position at the left ofFig. 1, vacuum is applied through primary conduit 16 and secondaryconduits 18, 19 and 20. The card cylinders are rotated and the strippingassembly is moved from left to right so that each of the nozzles travelsacross the face of a cylinder. Easily removable waste is removed fromthe face of cylinders 40 and 42 by vacuum applied at nozzles 28 and 29respectively. Some of the waste on the card clothing of the maincylinder is not completely dislodged by the first vacuum application.Such waste is removed by the doffer cylinder in the usual manner. Thatwaste is dislodged by vibration of the comb and is caught up by thesuction from nozzle 30 which creates an upward movement of air below thelevel of the comb and carried to a waste house, not shown, via ducts and16.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 3, a stripping assembly 110includes nozzles 128, 134 and appropriate communication conduits 118 and120 respectively. In

operation, the face of dofier cylinder 142 is cleaned by vacuum nozzle130 and at the same time waste material dislodged by comb 144 is alsopicked up by nozzle 1130.

Proper regulation of the relative air flow between the several nozzlescan be accomplished by any of several means. diameter of the nozzles.Such nozzles are simply conduit extensions as shown at 60aand 60b inFigures 4 and 5.

In a standard card stripping system modified in accordance with thisinvention as illustrated, the nozzle indicated at has an inside diameterof about inch. This will be varied to no more than inch or /2 inchexcept in cases of extremely light or heavy carding or a radical changeof vacuum. In such a system, the effective inside diameter of nozzles 29and 30 are about i inch and /2 inch, respectively.

As an alternative, optional dampers 50, 54, 52, 150, and 152 are shownin conduits 18, 19, 20, 118 and 120, respectively, for manuallyregulating flow through the several nozzles and conduits. Likewise, theeccentric-passage adjustable nozzles illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 maybe substituted at 28, 29, 30, 128, and 130 or just at 30 and 130 to giveextremely accurate flow control.

In Big. 6, a substitute conduit 60c has a threaded terminal enlargement66 provided with an off-center passage 65.

A shouldered nozzle terminal provided with a passage The simplest is byproper choice of the inside 64 extending from its center at its terminusto an oilcenter position at its shouldered end, is rotatably attached tothe terminal 66 by a shouldered apertured and threaded cap 62. Afriction disc 63 is fixed at the shouldered end of nozzle terminal 61 tohold the offcenter passages 64 and 65 in any desired degree ofalignmentthereby controlling the rate of fiow through the nozzle and theconduit.

In Figure 7, a similar construction includes ofi-center passages 74 and75, a threaded conduit terminal enlargement 76 and an interiorlythreaded nozzle 71 which is secured in the desired position ofadjustment by jam nut 73.

Thus it will be seen that by use of the device constructed in accordancewith the present invention, card sliver of a uniformly high quality canbe obtained, because the dirtiest waste removed in the strippingoperation is carried directly to the waste house by vacuum, whereasheretofore it has been deposited in the card room and returnedthroughrprocessing.

I claim:

1. In combination with a carding machine having a main card cylinder, adofier cylinder engaging said card cylinder, and a dofiier comb engagingsaid dot-fer cylinder, a card stripper comprising suction nozzlesconnected totraverse said main card cylinder and said doffer cylinder, avacuum source connected to said suction nozzles, a third suction nozzlepositioned adjacent the point of engagement of the do-fifer comb and thedoifer cylinder just above the upper level of the comb reciprocatingarea, means connecting said third nozzle to said vacu um source, andmeans for traversing said nozzle along with the rest of the strippingapparatus axially along said cylinders, whereby waste loosened by thevacuum operating on the main cylinder and removed by the dofier cylinderwill be removed from the dotter cylinder below the dofier comb, saidvacuum source being strong enough to produce, at said last named nozzle,a zone of rapidly moving air which extends to the point of engagement ofthe dofier comb with the doffer cylinder, and said last named nozzlebeing positioned with a predetermined clearance from said dofiercylinder sufficient to permit said nozzle to suck in free falling dirtparticles and the like dislodged from said dofier cylinder by saiddotlcr comb.

2. In combination with a carding machine having a main card cylinder, adoffer cylinder engaging said card cylinder, and a doffer comb engagingsaid doifer cylinder, a card stripper comprising a first suction nozzleadapted to be positioned adjacent the face of an upper portion of a maincard cylinder, a suction nozzle spaced adjacent said do-ffer comb adistance/not in excess of that necessary to pick up dirty strippings andthe like knocked off the doifer cylinder by the doifer comb, a vacuumsource, conduit means interconnecting said nozzles and said vacuumsource, means for supporting said conduits and nozzles, and means fortraversing said nozzles together axially along said cylinders, wherebywaste loosened by the vacuum applied to said card cylinder will betransferred to the doffer cylinder and subsequently removed by thecooperating action of said dofier comb and second suction nozzle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,209,751 Olivier Dec. 26, 1916 1,671,063 Clark May 22, 1928 1,905,265Clark Apr. 25, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 232,644 Germany Mar. 20, 1911

